This post could turn into a liturgy of unanswered prayers to thank God for, followed by a country song to that effect. However, that’s not what I meant when I thought this thought. My focus here is on the words we speak. For example, I used to wish my husband would change an aspect about himself that I didn’t like. Well, he has changed, but that’s not what I meant. I wanted him to keep doing things, but I wanted the attitude to change. I guess I should have been more specific when I prayed about it?

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Just fix it please!

Sometimes we don’t totally think through the things we think we want. We don’t look at the aftermath, the unintended consequences, or God’s wisdom and timing in His plans for our life. We don’t even know what we really want, we just throw out a generic “help, change it” because we’re stressed or worried about something in our life. As we have discovered in the last few years, you can’t just wish for “change”, because it might not be the kind of change you want to have. In a way, this is a very shallow form of thinking where we look for a way out of the pain of today.

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And fix it now!

Have you ever wanted something, even asked God for it, and then set about making it happen yourself? I think we all have. We want it and we want it now. When we go ahead of God things just don’t turn out like we envisioned them. God may have wanted that for us too, but the timing was not right. So we move ahead of God and wind up losing that thing we wanted or realize it’s not what we really wanted at all. Sometimes we miss the best God has for us because we won’t wait. We go ahead and finagle answers for ourself. God says, “Ok, if that’s how you want it…”. He gave us free will and won’t force us to wait. But how many more blessings would we receive, how much less pain, if we would only wait on His timing?

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Communication

When we talk to God, to others, or even our selves, it’s important to think through what we say. We’ve discussed many ways communication can go wrong in this blog, and this is another. Someone I know (who does this a lot) brought a project over to the house and said, “This is what I’d like to do.” What she meant is “This is what I’d like YOU to do.” I make it a policy not to jump in when people don’t specify what they really want (most of the time) because I’ve learned that it enables that other person to make assumptions he or she should not make. {If you want something from me, come out and ask me.} Sometimes speaking in generalities works fine, but when we really think we want something, it pays to get specific with yourself, with others, and with God. This is not for God’s sake; He already knows what we really want. Awareness of what we really ask for and what that means helps us not to get what we wished (prayed) for when that’s not what we really wanted at all.

Like this:

I have been a very bad girl. I recently ran out of medications, and with no refills available, I had to call my doctor. I’ve actually only seen that doctor once, and have debated about going back to him versus going back to my other health care provider or seeking someone else entirely. He was busy, so I was scheduled to see His wife. I think this was a God thing. You see, it had been a year and a half since I had been to the doctor. I had not been taking care of myself for a long time for various reasons, and it’s time to get this back under control. The good news is that my blood sugars and my asthma are both doing well.

Another issue I struggle with is weight. I had lost about 70lbs and was doing well. Then I got it in my head that I would start taking my diabetes medications like I’m supposed to. Big mistake? I don’t know, but I gained all that weight back and more in a matter of a couple months, even though I stopped as soon as I realized what had happened. With a bum knee and all the extra weight piled on, I am in worse shape than ever. And I am discouraged.

English: A doctor listens to the lungs of 3-year old boy. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Why do I tell you this? Sickness of the body (or lack of physical good health) often keeps us from being the people God created us to be. My struggles keep me chained, in a sense, and hold me back from being/doing what I would like to do. Even ministry items have to be thought out carefully before taking them on. Many of those things that a normal 54 year old woman can do, I cannot. I’ve had medical issues all my life and have had to adjust my life to accommodate them. But, I often get frustrated because I want to be like everyone else (or as I perceive them). Fortunately, many health issues can be taken care of by medication or just waiting for them to pass. Sometimes, God chooses to completely heal. All the time He is in the process.

So, when it comes to doing things like playing with the grandkids, going to the mall with my daughter, having a party for my Sunday School Class, and much more, I often have to pass or get help. In one sense, that keeps me dependent on God, and that’s a good thing! On the other hand, it limits my ability to relate with others doing every day things. It’s amazing how God uses my ‘dis’ abilities at times, so I trust Him that He’ll give me the ability to do what He wants me to do, but I also wonder how many times I’ve let Him down because I just can’t do some things.

How’s your Health?

All of the above, a struggle I have on a daily basis, got me thinking about spiritual health. God is much more concerned with my spiritual health than my physical health, and the only disability there is me. How do you measure spiritual health? How often do we miss out on ministry opportunities because our spiritual health is not very good? How do we get healthy once we realize we’ve become spiritually sick?

Sin Sick

The first way spiritual sickness strikes is common to man: sin sickness. Those who have not accepted Christ have a sickness unto death, and the remedy is to let Jesus cover your sin with His blood and make you white and whole again. Sin sickness still lurks in the natural man while we’re on earth, however. If we are not progressing toward becoming like Christ, we may have allowed our sin sickness to taint our spiritual health again. We heal this problem by keeping short accounts with God, confessing our sin, and getting right with our God.

Busy-ness

Another way we can become spiritually sick is through busyness. Are you so busy you let your quiet time slip? Do you go through the motions, looking churchy, but feeling bankrupt inside? When we get busy, especially busy doing “God’s Work”, we may let our relationship with said God (and others) slip without even realizing it.

Wrong Thoughts

We can do all the right things but for all the wrong reasons. If we do things to be seen by man, because we feel like it’s an obligation, or to be with our friends, we may have a problem. All of those things are ok, but not if they are our motivation. Our thoughts determine so much about us. They also act as a barometer or thermometer to tell us we’re having problems and need to get help.

7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:…” Proverbs 23:7a

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Luke 12:34

Fortunately, the Great Physician is always on call, 24/7. He gave us a prescription for spiritual maladies in the Bible, and sends His Spirit to help us understand the medications and convict us let us know when we’ve become spiritually sick.

Here’s hoping you find yourself healthy after this check up 😀 If not, I recommend you put in a call to the Great Physician.

“Countless women curl up on their couches to watch the same chick flicks over and over, especially the ones in which the hero gives everything to save the girl. Like the one rescued in movies, we want to be desired, fought for — pursued. And we are. Our Creator and King is pursuing us, but it’s so much better than the movies. He gave up His life and paid a great price to come and rescue us.” – Lynn Cowell in “Longing to be Pursued”

How about you? Even men often have that need to have someone want them, really want them and pursue them wholeheartedly. We all want to be needed, to make a difference in someone’s life, to feel like we matter. This need is often at the base of so many things we do, including “looking for love in all the wrong places.” We spend much energy seeking that indefinable thing that lets us know we are special.

As the rest of this article points out, we already have someone who pursues us, loves us, thinks we’re special above all others. This one is Jesus. He gave His life for us and pursues us to the end, loving us through it all.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

That, my friends, is a lot of love! Have you ever doubted God’s love for you? {If you’re human, you must say yes.} Do you really comprehend; can you wrap your mind around, the kind of love this is? What kind of God cares so much about a bunch of spoiled brats who seldom appreciate what He has done, is doing, will do for us? What kind of God allows His beloved Son to go through what He did, just so that we could have a way to Him?

Jesus is that white night, that hero that gave His life to protect and restore us. When you think of yourself as the bride of Christ, try to be the kind of bride that recognizes the value of the Groom and what He did to redeem you.

Now, that is not something new to me. I have watched Him move immovable mountains all my life. But to watch it happen in the life of a dear friend who is just learning to trust Him with the impossible bursts my buttons! I am so proud of my God. I often tell people that He can be trusted with anything, and He can. However, there’s always that wondering if He will choose to do this thing. I always know it’s for a higher purpose if He says no, but when helping someone learn to walk by faith, it’s so good when He does something like this.

In this case, the friend had an immovable mountain, impossible by human standards, and God showed her that He had her back all along. Even though she just received the news that the mountain was gone, it was gone for several days before she could see it. I have never seen God late. I have never seen Him fail His people. I have never seen Him break a promise. He is faithful, even when we are unfaithful. GLORY!!!!

Remember that, to God, our mountains are like little pebbles in His hand. When we look at life from His perspective, we see how little we needed to worry. We see His mighty hand compared to the tiny bump and realize He’s got it. We may live on this earth, but we are not constrained by earthly boundaries. Our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, loves us with a deep, abiding, faithful, never-ending love, and has a wonderful plan for our lives. How awesome is that?

So next time you have an immovable mountain, step back and see that your God is so much bigger than that mountain, that the mountain seems totally insignificant in comparison. We have the power within us, through the Holy Spirit, to experience wonders beyond our imagination if we will just trust Him and let Him work in us. I, for one, refuse to live a mediocre life. I want to live an abundant life for Him. It’s not easy, but it’s so worth it!!!!

Do you have a mountain that needs moving? Have you seen God do the impossible before? What do you think?

Sins of the tongue probably rate as the worst kinds of sins as far as harm to others goes. Yet, we sit in our churches with blazing tongues, spreading hurt to all with no qualms. While I believe homosexuality is a sin because the Bible says it is, I sometimes question the obsession with it that I see among Christians. It’s like we’ve separated the sins into acceptable and unacceptable categories. We have our pet sins; those go into the acceptable category. Then we have the ones that don’t bother us as much; those go into the unacceptable category.

Let me tell you no sin is acceptable to God!

We are all sinners. There is none righteous, no not one. We cannot gloss over some sins and sit in our pews as holier-than-thou whited sepulchres, spewing ungodliness in our judgmentalness. We ought to do one and not leave the other undone. We should worry about sin – all sin – our own sin first.

The Bible tells us to take the beam out of our own eye first. Then we will be able to see clearly to help others remove the speck in their eyes. As long as we have these sins that we cling to and justify and ignore as ‘not so bad’, we will be unable to help others with their sin. This is the problem when it comes to speaking out against sin. We do not have the right to do so until we have cleaned up our own back yard. I am not saying we shouldn’t speak out. I’m saying we should clean up that beam and then speak out, when we have the right and the ability to help others in the same mess we found ourselves in.

We have the answer: Jesus Christ. But we besmirch His name when we excuse sin in our own lives while condemning others for theirs. I have been asking God for over a year to show me the truth about these matters. He is slowly but surely moving me into His will as He teaches me how to walk with Him and how to know Him as He truly is. This is a difficult concept for most Christians, but it is difficult in its very simplicity. The same is true of salvation. It is simple, and yet we make it hard.

So what beams do you have in your eyes, keeping you from seeing clearly?

In this series, we will talk about the beams we can have and what they look like. Tune in for more. . . .

Communication, the premise of this blog, cannot happen when based on a lie. How can you have any sort of real communication when one (or both) parties approach it with a lie? In other words, one or more person hides the truth and the real meaning behind the attempted communication. Sadly, the person embracing deceit often has no clue they have done so. They believe the lie to be the truth. In the current political maelstrom in the US, both sides have believed lies and called them truth. Thus, the breakdown of any real communication between parties (or even individuals) regarding politicsreligioneconomicsparenting pretty much everything.

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Malachi 2:17

You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”

In reading this passage this morning, my first thought was my country and it’s trajectory toward destruction. Everywhere I look, I see people saying that “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them.” Evil is not good in the sight of the Lord! And yet, my country (and many others) have called evil good. These are some phrases I’ve heard that show this: {Some are direct quotes and some are put together from several statements and implications}

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“God is a God of love, and He just wants people to be happy.”

“A woman has the right to choose what happens in her body.”

“It’s my right as a parent to give my daughter ‘gogo’ juice and parade her in bars and pageants in (a sexual way.)”

“Since we evolved and there is no God, it doesn’t matter what we do – survival of the fittest and all that.”

“I had to get out of my marriage; I just wasnt happy any more.”

“A real woman knows how to make others pay.”

“God doesn’t discriminate.”

“What God wants for all of us, above all else, is love.”

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Some of these statements sound really good, right? Some of them are even true to a point. However, God does not call evil good, nor does he delight in

Communication (Photo credit: P Shanks)

those who do evil. He wants to save them, for sure, but He does not delight in their deeds. There is a difference between a person and their deeds. He may love the person and want to bring them to Himself, but their deeds need forgiveness, not embracing and pride. God’s love is not a free pass to call evil good and delight in those who do evil. {Romans 1:32: who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that they who do such things are worthy of death, not only practise them, but have fellow delight in those who do them.}

All that to say that embracing a lie leads to broken communication and broken lives. We cannot truly engage with God or with mankind when we start on the premise of a lie (based on scripture).

Lies have a short and troubled life, but truth lives on forever. — Anonymous

Or, as it says in Proverbs 12:19: The lip of truth shall be established forever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.

Truth or Consequences (Photo credit: kxlly)

As I said, with political battles heating up here in the US, the lies fly about like a swarm of locusts. I wonder if I am the only one who sees the ads with statistics or polls all over them and wonders about their truth? Anyone who has studied stats knows how easy it is to manipulate them. The same with polls. Then we find partial quotes twisted to imply something not the truth. I think all political ads should come with verification somewhere. I want to know how the stats were collected, the sample, and much more to evaluate the truth of the statements.

Going back to our quote, I also see quotes from some of the candidates in the past that have come back to haunt them. The candidate was either truthful and now wants to cover with lies, or lying and now wants to pretend he/she didn’t mean that. So how can we find a truth in this maelström of lies? How can we find ways to communicate with one another?

Lies will come out, but the truth will stand forever.

Have you ever realized you believed something that was a lie? How do you hold up your beliefs for the litmus test of truth? Do you rigidly hang on to lies and half truths, or do you seek truth in all your dealings with God and others? Have you ever felt the communication breakdowns of lies? How did it feel? How I long for the day when all truth will be revealed!

As the USA heads closer to election time, people’s’ humanity (sin nature) seems to be rising to the top. It’s everywhere.

“I’m right. You’re stupid.”

“I know what’s best.”

“Only an idiot would believe that.”

“Libs are . . . .”

“Conservatives are . . .”

You know you’ve seen/heard it all too. How can a country that has become so polarized ever find neutral ground and begin communicating with one another?

Real communication starts with respect.

1. No name calling.

2. No trying to out-yell another to get your point across.

3. Really listen to the other person instead of formulating your argument or interrupting.

4. Try to turn off your filters and hear the other person without bias.

5. Recognize that stupidity, bias, greed, etc. runs in both parties.

6. Turn off the arrogance! You are not God and do not know everything.

7. Recognize that your rights end where my nose begins.

8. Remember that people often want they same things, they simply have a different plan for arriving there.

9. Recognize that your world is not the universe. Where you live, how you were raised, and a hundred other factors go into your world view, and everyone’s world view is at least somewhat unique even though common characteristics may exist.

10. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23). Exersize these fruits and begin to plant seeds of kindness, and respect as you go about your daily life.

11. If you are a Christian – pray for them.

This a start to the list. Can you think of other ways to show respect to others? Are you guilty of disrespect to those who disagree with you?

By the way, silence is not respect. We need to speak up, but we need to do it in a respectful way that acknowledges others as human beings. I can and will stand on my principles, especially those that God laid down in the Bible. But, I will attempt to do so as Jesus did. He was tough when needed, but always thought of what would bring others to God. He was/is the embodiment of the Fruit of the Spirit.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man shows, this he will also reap. For one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. Galatians 6:7-9